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Well, here we are. Just a week away from my 10th Pan Ohio Hope Ride. You all know me. I live to ride. I also ride to live. 15 years ago, I dedicated part of my life to riding a bike and fighting cancer.

During this journey and fight, I have seen my share of victories, but sadly, that is always tempered by defeat. I have lost many to this disease and I have seen many of my friends and loved one’s suffer the same as I.

The one thing I have never seen is a loss of hope. Of courage. Of “I got this shit and I am going to win.”

My journey over the last 15 years has been one of eye opening truth’s and heart warming success stories. It has also brought me into a beautiful community where we all have common goals and believe’s. I love the cycling community.

I have been asked repeatedly over the past week if I ever ride in the rain. The reason being is that many know I am going on a bike ride and they wonder. It’s okay. I would ask the same question if I were in their shoes.

Answer: Yes. I ride in the rain. I ride in the wind . I ride. Why?
Because to not ride would be a bail out on what I fight for. Those with cancer can not choose to ride or not, so why should I get that luxury? Think about it.

So given the choice…I choose the rain. FYI, one of my favorite R.E.M. songs…

If you feel like joining the fight, you can donate here:: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/ChrisMeadows18

Well, Flat Emily and I will be heading East to Hershey, Pennsylvania to ride in the 6th Annual PA Hope Ride. The ride may include a hill or two, maybe even a mountain or two. So it is a climbing weekend. This is the 6th time I have participated in this ride.

I embrace the philosophy of just get to the top of the climb, dumb ass. That means I climb slow. I’m not in a race, but I get to each and every top of the mountain.

So when I saw this video, I thought, ‘Yep. I’ve said this, thought this and now it’s verified.’

Every now and again, you just need to take a day off. You have been burning the candle at both ends. You have been working hard, playing hard. Whew…time for a breath.

That is what I am doing today. I know I should be out riding. Or doing at least something since the weather is finally warm. But I just can’t get motivated.

It is Memorial week, meaning I will be working my ass off this week. We (meaning my job, you know, cooking for folks) cater for the staff and volunteers at the Memorial Golf Tournament next week. It is a lot of folks to feed. We are talking 5-6 hundred per day starting Monday. Bottom line…a lot of food.

Then there is the stress of food ordering. Did I order enough? Did I order the right stuff? If I didn’t, where can I find it if I need it?

So, that is my world right now. I think I will take today and chill. Tomorrow I will ride, because that is what I do. And Monday I will jump into the shit, because I also do that.

In the kitchen where I work, we listen to Pandora on the radio for our musical pleasure. It offers a wide variety of genres and we can normally find a common ground between all of those that work in the kitchen and their listening preferences. But since we are too cheap to pay for premium Pandora, we must endure a few advertisements during the day. One the ads caught my attention recently. It was an ad for the Ohio Lottery.

The advertisement started by saying how everyone should start playing instant tickets and was suggesting how easy it was to win hundreds if not thousands of dollars if you do. I’m okay with this so far. I have played instant tickets before.

As a matter of fact, a former co-worker and I used to play multiple tickets every week while we worked together. And for the record, we did normally break even while playing. So as you can see, I am not opposed to playing the lottery. I will even play when the mega millions and those type of lotteries get up into the millions of dollars. And for the record, I am not breaking even on this front.

Anyway, the ad that caught my attention did go on to say that we could all win and now it is even easier to play instant tickets because you can now purchase game tickets, that could win you hundreds if not thousands of dollars, by using your credit or debit card. The lottery made easy. The advertisement then ends by saying please gamble responsibly.

I am going to let this sink in for a moment.

So be sure to gamble responsibly. Use your credit card to buy lottery tickets. That is the way to go. Put yourself in more debt to gamble so you might win hundreds or maybe even thousands of dollars.

“Honey! Let’s retire and play the lottery! We can put it on the credit card and not have to pay for it for at least a month…or more if we want to pay interest on it, but it is responsible gambling! We could win hundreds or even thousands!”

Am I the only one seeing the irony of this logic?

I’m not a big gambler. Will I gamble? Yes. Do I feel the need to visit the local casino? Nope, not really. Will I gamble if I have to use my credit card? Probably not. I get that carrying cash is not that popular anymore. Everyone uses a credit card for just about everything. It is a convenience thing, I get that. Call me old school, or just old, but to encourage debt in order to play the lottery just might not be responsible gambling.

Valentine’s Day has never been a favorite holiday of mine. And a few years ago, it became a bittersweet holiday at best. I lost a family member to suicide. Yes, a very tragic event that shook the entire family.

But because of this tragedy, our family drew closer. I was able to re-establish ties with family members that I had lost years before. I was able to form new bonds with my brothers and sister and also renew a kinship with a family that had been lost to me. So while I lost a family member, I regained a family.

I have posted this song every year since we lost Ben. It is a great way for me to remember him.

Okay, I’ll admit it, I’m a fan of the Olympics. Yep, bring it on. Speed skating. Downhill skiing. Bobsled. Luge. And yes, figure skating. I will admit I like to watch figure skating. Every four years. I like the grace and athleticism of the skaters. I have no idea how they are judged or how the scoring goes. Might as well figure out the NFL bobbled catch rule and then you might understand figure skating.

The cross country skiing and shoot arrows…yep, not sure about that. Or the one that shoots rifle instead of arrows. Um, well I’m sure the Greeks had a reason for that…

So I will watch these coming 2 weeks with fun. It will actually be live. 8PM here is actually 10 am there. So the live feeds should be fun.

But most of of all, I look forward to the backstories. The ones that will make my eyes misty. You know what I am talking about. “She/he was raised in poverty and rose up to meet the challenge and became a Olympian…and so forth.

Don’t get me wrong. I love that story. But why not this…”Kid was motivated a worked his ass off and became an Olympian” I like that also…

It started with a kiss. I was on the floor. We were watching the Super Bowl, or at least I was, when she crawled onto my chest. She then went up to face and planted the wettest, most sloppery kiss I have ever had.

She then had a grin that could light up Time’s Square on a busy night. I melted. This is a memory that will stay with me forever.

Of course I am referring to my daughter. And we have celebrated this moment for the last 21 years. Over the years we have had cakes, presents and, of course, kisses. It has been special for us over the years.

It is a wonderful thing, memories. I can’t think of a thing that is more important than this. I know that she is an adult now, but the fact that she still remembers this and is willing to celebrate the fact, well, that is just priceless.

This year we went a Blue Jackets game and just spent time together. It really doesn’t get much better than this.